Several quarters are crying foul over MIC leading the Mega Mydaftar campaign, which seeks to register undocumented Malaysian-born individuals.

The move, announced by MIC president Dr S Subramaniam, has been branded by critics as "political gimickry to obtain votes" in the run up to the coming 14th general election.

Spokesperson for citizen group Freedom, N Ganesan, said the government lacked the political will to resolve the problems of stateless people.

"We are often given the run around by the National Registration Department (NRD) when handling such cases, but now the government turns around and gives it to a political party to handle it," said Ganesan, who is currently handling such cases in Penang.

"Why the MIC, it is such an impotent and inappropriate party to deal with this as the cases do not only involve Indians but other ethnicities as well," he added.

Ganesan said the move to allow MIC to handle the Mega Mydaftar campaign smacks of "political gimickry to fish for votes".

He said the problem of statelessness has been going on for years but those who approach the NRD are not getting the right responses although their cases are legitimate.

"There is simply no political will to help the people who are caught in between, they are not accepted and NRD imposes high requirements like language ability, there is simply no compassion, even with a DNA match between parents and children, the latter are

Ganesan was responding to Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) chief executive Eric Paulsen who said allowing the MIC to register such individuals would give the impression that one must belong to a political party to obtain citizenship.

Paulsen said any political party can support the registration process, but not lead the campaign to avoid any speculation or impression that Malaysian citizenship is beholden to one’s political affiliation.

He also questioned the timing of the move, given the timing of the campaign announcement prior to the impending general election.

Political gimmick bordering on racism

Meanwhile, Penang Deputy Chief Minister P Ramasamy said MIC does not have the expertise nor knowledge to lead this mammoth effort to register stateless people.

He said the matter is a national problem and should be handled by the NRD.

Describing the move as “political gimmick bordering on racism”, Ramasamy said it has always been "virtually impossible" to register and obtain citizenship for the stateless.

“MIC does not even know how many stateless persons are around in the country, I have asked the government for the updated data, and they do not have,” he added, noting that there are about 300,000 who are yet to be given citizenship.

Ramasamy said his views are based on the challenges faced by the Penang Taskforce on Stateless people - which he heads - when registering stateless persons.

"The NRD should undertake a major stateless operation and check whether Indians, Chinese, Malays or others need to apply for citizenship.

"The federal government cannot at all time be focused and handle matters based on ethnic and racial terms. This is a national problem.”